A Local’s Guide to San Diego for Cruise Ship Visitors

Welcome to the Port of San Diego, located in the heart of the downtown of “America’s finest city.” Immediately off the boat you step onto the Embarcadero, a thriving walkway of foot traffic and cyclists along San Diego Bay. A short walk north, at the edge of downtown, is Little Italy, an increasingly bustling neighborhood with some of San Diego’s finest food offerings. Stroll south on the Embarcadero, meanwhile, to find the pleasant but decidedly touristy Seaport Village, a seaside smattering of shops and eateries under the dramatic gaze of the U.S.S. Midway, San Diego’s iconic 20th-century aircraft carrier turned museum. From there, take in the glory of the bay.

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San Diego in a day

In the past decade, locals will tell you, San Diego has become a much cooler place. Once bland neighborhoods, like the Gaslamp and North Park, have been transformed into cultural hot spots. At the heart of this chic-a-fication is San Diego’s culinary scene, which brims with vitality and talent; new, top-notch restaurants seem to open every month. An easy walk from the port is Animae, a Michelin-recognized Asian-fusion gem in gorgeous, modernist surrounds. The executive chef, Tara Monsod, recently became the city’s first-ever James Beard Award finalist. Go for a memorable dinner if you have time, to enjoy delightfully eclectic dishes like crispy pig ear and hamachi crudo. For lunch, in nearby Little Italy, make time for Ironside Fish & Oyster, a more casual but still elevated seafood restaurant with a fun nautical interior and splendid cocktails.

During the day, stroll down to the Rady Shell, an open-air concert venue on the bay. You can watch the orchestra practice for free on some days; there are also massive yoga sessions certain mornings (check the website schedule). Petco Park is nearby, the Padres’ $450 million baseball stadium (90-minute tours are offered on nongame days), as well as the Quartyard, a new outdoor music venue and beer garden in the fast-gentrifying East Village. For a more active day, consider taking the 15-minute ferry to Coronado, an almost-island across the bay. (Ferries leave from the Convention Center, a 20-minute walk south from the port.) The wealthy, beach-house enclave is an excellent place for an easy bike ride. Rent bikes from Holland’s Bicycles near the ferry landing and venture down the Silver Strand. The scenic bike path stretches seven coastal miles to Imperial Beach, the final U.S. town before Tijuana. Fantastic tacos are available at the Mike Hess brewery.

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If you have two days . . .

With two days to explore, you should head north to La Jolla. With its sprawling, soft-sand beaches and coves, mesmerizing sea cliffs, and excellent restaurants, “the Jewel” offers the surf-and-sunsets essence of San Diego.

To get there from the cruise port downtown, take an Uber to Bird Rock, at the southern edge of La Jolla. Stop for breakfast at Wayfarer, the best bakery in town—get the kouign-amann and whatever scone it’s offering that day. Rent a surfboard from the Bird Rock Surf Shop next door and walk down to Tourmaline, a popular beach and surf break for beginners. If you want aerial views, get a ride to the Torrey Pines Gliderport, where guided paragliding excursions are available for $200 off the monstrous cliffs overlooking Black’s Beach, a nature reserve (and nudist beach). The less daring can opt for an easy hike to the top of Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. Stop for dinner at Paradisaea, a popular French-inspired restaurant in Bird Rock. With its bright, tropical decor and fresh seafood-forward menu, it is very La Jolla and very good. (Its sister spot, next door, Dodo Bird Donuts, is great for breakfast. Try the Gringo: bacon, egg and cheese, with butter lettuce Dijonaise and tomato jelly.)

For a break from the coast, make a beeline for the North Park neighborhood, which is something like San Diego’s version of Brooklyn’s Williamsburg. “North Park has changed dramatically since when I was growing up in San Diego,” says Lara Worm, founder of Bivouac Ciderworks, a splendid cider pub there. “It’s a place where you can find an eclectic mix of old and new, owner-owned businesses and creative, artistic, interesting people.” Bivouac, in the heart of it, makes a fine base for exploration.

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Stay longer

If you have more time before or after your cruise, consider further exploring San Diego’s underwater world, which has so much to offer for those willing to take the plunge. “The marine world is the third arm of the San Diego outdoor triangle: deserts, mountains, and ocean!” says Melissa Torres, an aquarist at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (the Harvard of marine science). Located in La Jolla, with sweeping coastal views, the world-class aquarium focuses specifically on Pacific ocean residents, like wolf eels, sunflower sea stars, and giant Pacific octopuses.

Just Get Wet, a local outfit in Mission Beach, offers free-diving certification courses, which take you from the classroom, to the pool, to the ocean in a weekend. Introductory spearfishing courses are another option. Scuba divers would be wise to schedule a dive with the “kindness”-centered Waterhorse Charters, which strives to be “the friendliest marine entertainment company in Southern California”. It offers half- or full-day aquatic excursions to world-class wrecks, teeming kelp forests and more.

A string of charming beach towns unfolds north of La Jolla: Del Mar, Solana Beach, Cardiff, Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Oceanside. Each has its own vibe. A cozy oasis for exploring them is Rancho Valencia, a five-star hotel in the wealthy enclave of Rancho Santa Fe. Done up in Spanish colonial opulence, it features 49 casitas, each with its own dipping pool, an award-winning spa, and long, sun-lit swimming pools, all within 45 beautifully landscaped acres. Caroline Wolfe of Cadence, a luxury travel agency, deems it one of her favorite hotels in the United States. “It is the ultimate place to relax and indulge,” she says.

For a more palatial feel, check out the Fairmont Grand Del Mar, an opulent sanctum among rolling green hills reminiscent of a Italian palace. Featuring a newly minted three-Michelin-starred New French restaurant on property—Addison—plus a spa and golf course, the resort is popular with attendees of horse races at the nearby Del Mar Fairgrounds. For wilder animals nearby, go to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, an 1,800-acre offshoot of the city zoo, world-renowned for its conservation programs. The Safari Park features an African savanna’s worth of large mammals: lions, giraffes, rhinos, hippos. Visitors explore it all in an open-air safari truck. There is also a zip line and even an overnight glamping experience. And at the original zoo, located inside San Diego’s historic Balboa Park, there are now pandas.